Mark's 150 gallon

[markalot]

Adding some FTS's.

I have a board hung up that I use for a light block instead of a full hood. After over a year I figured out it looks much better if I lower it down to block all light rather than just blocking the lighting but allowing easy access to the tank.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by markalot

Thanks Matt, I was hoping you'd stop by. That stag is growing about as fast as the slimer, I really lucked out. Bought from some little shop in St Louis that had a poor selection of SPS and this one. Came with red bugs, dipped in Bayer twice, went full turd and took 6 months to recover. When it arrived it was full light blue so I still have a ways to go but branch by branch it's improving.

I certainly want to follow your thread, but I confess I use the email notifications to do that. I rarely look for new threads lately so thanks for the heads up on the other thread. Its a bummer what you've had to deal with as far as AEFW. I had them on a colony once, but between having several types of wrasses and using KZ flatworm stop they never appeared anywhere else and I haven't had any sign of them in almost two years. The KZ product can help make the slime coat thicker which helps keep them off but it won't kill the worms or anything.

[markalot]

Originally Posted by mhucasey

I certainly want to follow your thread, but I confess I use the email notifications to do that. I rarely look for new threads lately so thanks for the heads up on the other thread. Its a bummer what you've had to deal with as far as AEFW. I had them on a colony once, but between having several types of wrasses and using KZ flatworm stop they never appeared anywhere else and I haven't had any sign of them in almost two years. The KZ product can help make the slime coat thicker which helps keep them off but it won't kill the worms or anything.

I gave up the email notifications long ago. I subscribe, no notification, and have my RC favorite land me at the usercp page where I can see a list of all the new activity. I'm subscribed to a LOT of threads, but probably only a small percentage compared to Sahin.

I was going to get some flatworm stop just as an aid in slowing the little devils down. If I look very close, eith a flashlight and reading glasses, I still see a few flecks that may or may not be bites. I'm fairly paranoid.

[NaturalReef]

Very nice tank Mark! I have also been bitten by sps. I won't be of much help on identifying except the brown with sky blue tips looks like it is a Stuber frag. It is the first acro successfully kept in a tank. The latest issue of coral magazine has a stunning picture of a ORA Stuber colony. I purchased a large frag of this recently and am in love with it because of the contrast. The blue tips are beautiful!

[markalot]

Originally Posted by NaturalReef

Very nice tank Mark! I have also been bitten by sps. I won't be of much help on identifying except the brown with sky blue tips looks like it is a Stuber frag. It is the first acro successfully kept in a tank. The latest issue of coral magazine has a stunning picture of a ORA Stuber colony. I purchased a large frag of this recently and am in love with it because of the contrast. The blue tips are beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by. It's a constant challenge, fortunately there's a bunch of old timers (hobby time) here that can help us figure things out.

I had a green with blue tip but I could not keep it healthy and the last frag I made of it started to STN so I finally tossed it, so I don't think it was a Stuber which should be as easy as the slimer. The big coral on the right is a Miami Orchid, another old staghorn type and while it doesn't photograph well it looks fantastic.

A couple of closer tank shots. You can see I have a flow issue on the left side, that green cyano slime like to stick to the sandbed. I re-aimed one pump down there but I think I need another smaller pump mounted on the lower left to finally take care of it. This will probably mean I have to remove the frogspawn, yet another LPS to get evicted.

[cugly]

Looking better and better every time Mark.

[glaukos]

+1
I love how mixed your reef is,mark!

[Wrangy]

Looking great Mark

[markalot]

So I herniated a disc in my back ... that was not fun, but recovery is going smoothly and I'm not in pain, but my reefing activities are a tad limited for the time being. This has apparently been good for the tank, which means I tinker too much!

This is all I have, can't really bend to take any clear shots.



Look at the algae growing on the frag rack? I wasn't able to feed the fish for 3 days and they didn't touch it. Bastards.



Colors have improved slightly, but more importantly nothing has declined.



KH has been steady around 7.8 with 2 tsp Kalk per gallon of topoff. Trained my son how to refill the topoff while I sit and watch. I could get used to this.

I like this last pic only because the female lyretail was constantly getting in front of me demanding more food.

[mhucasey]

Trained my son how to refill the topoff while I sit and watch. I could get used to this.

You sir, have taken it to a new level...well done
Get better soon and take it slow with the back. Those disc injuries are horrible

[nemodan]

Hi Mark.... the tank looks fantastic. Take care of that back. Good that you are getting help there. !!! Those SPS look very pretty and healthy !!

Cheers
Daniel

[watchguy123]

Feel for you. We both have disc issues and share our first name. Tank looks beautiful

[Wrangy]

Looking excellent as usual Mark! Get that back in fighting form soon though mate!! Crook backs are the worst

[cFloor]

Back troubles are the worst, I know them all to well. Your tank is looking epic! I love the teal stag in front of the green one. Nice contrast there. I wonder why your tang and fox face aren't touching that algae??

[reefmutt]

Mark!! there are so many threads that slip through the cracks for me.. yours was one.
I just read this whole thread.
It crazy how similar our experiences have been over the past couple of years.. messing with led lighting and finally abandoning it (but keeping it as supplemental), fighting with high po4 (from crappy old rocks) and using pellets and n to combat it, giving up gfo.. finally having things stabilize.. then getting funky algae here and there..
but you are still using pellets with nopox, right? or only nopox now?
Anyways, your tank is looking really good and your photography is excellent.
That coral that Joshky quoted and then Andrew commented on- the one that you love and it loves you??
Well, I want a threesome! I love it too!! Pretty sure I can get it to love me back.. I'd like to try anyways..
And the shot of the blue jacquelinea with the red blasto behind it is a stunning shot and another of your corals i want to 'get to know' better..
super nice tank you have going, there!
I hope you beat the aefws and the back issues.. you need to take more pics.... maybe you can teach your son to shoot top downs as well.

[mhucasey]

Just an observation- Mark with a blown out disc in his back posts more pics of his tank than Sahin Well even limited those are some great shots and the tank is looking really lush! The stag section in the center is totally awesome and I love the cyphastrea!

[glaukos]

I have come to the conclusion that our tanks don't like us much
Tank looks awesome

Heal fast and well buddy

[plyle02]

Mark,
Beautiful display, you have some large colonies in there, I can tell when the mini-colonies grow for another 6 months or so, your tank is going to be even more stunning. Great job of spreading growth structure, color, and coral types to add balance to the eye. Hope all is well your way

[joshky]

Get better Mark, my dad has had back issues my entire life and I hope I never meet the same fate.

The algae on the frag rack looks annoying for sure, but otherwise your tank is looking fantastic. I love when I go on vacation and come back home to my reef, things just look so much better. Perhaps I'm just overly elated everything made it okay. I think we definitely mess with the tanks too much, my brother was getting on me this week for moving things around to take pictures, "Stop messing with the acros!!!" haha.

[markalot]

Wow,

thanks for all the support everyone, I really really appreciate it. Recovery continues to go very well and I feel really lucky it wasn't worse. The exercises are a bit odd, especially the one with me on my back, legs bent, holding a giant pink ball ......

[Renton777]

Tanks looking great Mark, lost of great pictures. This is my favorite, love the large branches.

[reefmutt]

Originally Posted by markalot

Wow,

thanks for all the support everyone, I really really appreciate it. Recovery continues to go very well and I feel really lucky it wasn't worse. The exercises are a bit odd, especially the one with me on my back, legs bent, holding a giant pink ball ......

Yeeeeeah..... I'm sure you're a great guy and all, Mark... but I'm not sure I needed that visual...

[markalot]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Yeeeeeah..... I'm sure you're a great guy and all, Mark... but I'm not sure I needed that visual...

I'll use the blue ball next time.

So I am a little better every day, and today I broke out the Tamron 90mm macro lens to try and see if the little AEFW are on the move or not. I know most folks like to post only good pretty pictures here on RC, and that's fine, but I like to bore the hell out of everyone with diagnostic pics, brutal closeups, and other ugliness. Maybe it might help someone unlucky enough to stumble on this thread, who knows? Besides, I'm rather short on good looking pictures at the moment.

Starting with the worst, most of these taken at 3200 ISO and with the aid of a flashlight.

This acro is receding at the base and I assumed I would find AEFW but I can't, which makes me quite happy ... except I'd still like to know why it's receding. Is the blotchiness bite marks? I assumed this would do ok in lower light but perhaps not. PAR at this location is ~ 220.


You'll notice a theme with this pictures. See the blotchiness in the skin above the dead area? I have a few acros that have this same blochiness, which from a distance looks like bites.

This is the Jacquelinea, which always has these blotches and is growing very quickly at the moment. Sure looks like bite marks, doesn't it?


Super closeup of a Lokani branch. See the scratch marks?


The dwarf valida, more blotches and a few scratches.


Red Robin, with a few blotches but nothing that really stands out up close.


Rainbow acro, which has lost a lot of color and has some recession, yet nothing alarming shows up when looking close.


Last one for this batch. The Red Dragon is growing, but IMO isn't 100% healthy. Again, blotchy.


So yea, these are all very close and I'm probably paranoid but I feel better about it. Whatever is going on it's slow.

[markalot]

I moved the frag rack down, further away from the MP40, and shazam.



I've been losing LPS in this tank, the first to go was a large colony of purple Duncans, which closed up one day and then started to wither away. I fragged where I could (really needed a band saw for this) and was able to save a few clusters of heads. This is the biggest on the other frag rack.



After this I lost my gold torch, half of one of my plate corals is dead, and two chalices receded. Stupid flubber anyway.

Back to SPS ...

Patiently waiting for this one to get bigger. When water quality is at its best the skin is more sky blue than green.


The Horrida is getting better color slowly but surely. Supposedly, when healthy, skin is a good blue with reddish (I suspect brownish) polyps. Polyps do glow green under blue light.


I assume this is a stylo of some sort. Very slow grower, green polyps with pink skin, and unlike every other stylo refuses to encrust. Hrmph.


... and while I was taking pictures the cyphastrea decided to puff up it's polyps. Odd but reliable coral.


Did some testing today as well. Nitrates down to undetectable, so dosed a little Ca NO3. Mg was 1250, woops, it's been a long while since I tested, so I'm bringing it up. Alk 7.8 and staying rock steady.

I have been adding ~20ml of vinegar to topoff with 2 tsp of Kalk per gallon of RODI. Evaporation is aprox a gallon a day. Some stringy white stuff is hanging off one of the return nozzles so I decided to cut the output from the bio-pellet reactor in half and let that ride for a while to see what happens to NO3 and PO4.

[markalot]

Forgot one.

My green cap with blue polyps is coming back again. MEN couldn't kill the entire thing before they vanished, never to be seen again. I've always liked this cap but it needs really good conditions to show with a good green and the blue polyps. And, of course, it's yet another cap I don't have room for.